The Global Sanctions Data Base—Release 4: The Heterogeneous Effects of the Sanctions on Russia

ABSTRACT This paper introduces the fourth release of the Global Sanctions Data Base (GSDB‐R4). Covering the period 1950–2023, it contains 1547 sanctions cases, including the recent ones against Russia. The GSDB‐R4 comes in two versions, a case‐specific and a dyadic version, both freely available upon request. To highlight one of the new features of the GSDB‐R4, we combine it with trade data until 2023 to study the effects of the sanctions on Russia's trade within an econometric gravity model. We find that, on average, the effects on trade between Russia and the sanctioning countries are negative and statistically significant, but relatively small. We also find that the effects are very heterogeneous across senders, including the EU members. Finally, our estimates identify the presence of a reduction in the direct bilateral trade costs in Russia's bilateral trade with India, China and Turkey, even after controlling for all possible general equilibrium effects. The implication is that such trade cost decreases may offset the effects of Western sanctions and even lead to net benefits for Russia.